Dear Roger-
I am a new home owner and have never had to take care of a lawn before. I know every yard is different dependent on climate but do you have a basic lawn care plan to use as a template for someone like me, just starting out?
-David J.
Concord, MA
Dear David-
To your point, indeed, every lawn has different needs and I always recommend that you have a professional landscaper come at least a few times of year to do some maintenance. However, some people can’t afford to have a professional service come every week or just enjoy taking care of things to themselves. The following is a basic lawn care guide for the beginner.
- In Spring, walk around the property and look for any big branches or debris that need to be removed.
- If you are walking on the lawn and it seems soft, delay working on the lawn because it could cause damage.
- If there are any pieces of grass that have been dug up by a plow, you should try to put them back in place and lightly tamp down.
- If it is dry enough, rake the lawn.
- Then decide what you are putting down for fertilizer: either regular lawn fertilizer or crabgrass control fertilizer.
- If you only have a few weeds growing in the lawn during the growing season, you can hand-remove them rather than spreading herbicide over the whole lawn.
- Once the lawn is growing and reaches 3″ in height, cut it, bagging it to compost in the yard or dispose of it offsite.
- Watering should be done so that the lawn gets one inch of water per week spread out evenly into 3 watering sessions.
- Make sure sprinkler heads are adjusted so they don’t throw water on walkways and driveways. Watering should be done early in the morning to diminish evaporation.
- Generally, lawns are cut weekly, reducing the length from 3″ to 2.”
- Edge all beds and move remnants to compose pile. Do not put them in the bed. After edging, clean old mulch out of beds and move to compost pile, and re-mulch with 1-3″ thick of new mulch. Do not create
“mulch volcanoes.” - In the early Fall, apply an appropriate fertilizer for the current condition and time of year. Early Fall is the perfect time to reseed the lawn.
- In late Fall, rake leaves. Using a blue tarp simplifies collecting and transporting leaves to the compost pile.
- Aerate lawn.
- After aerating, this is a good time to spread compost on the top of the lawn and apply a Fall fertilizer.
- The last cutting will be cut to 2.”